Swapping an early Dana 44 into a later CJ

[Kman]

I have already welded the spring pads into place to mount a 1975 CJ5 Dana 44 rear axle into my '83 CJ5.Anyone have any ideas on what to use for emergency brake cables?I'm going with a 4" lift and Teraflex Revolver shackles, and Rancho RS99010X shocks and extended braided stainless brake hose.

[rick]

What was on the '83? I can't imagine it's much different? My drum backing plate has a hole that the cable runs through to connect to the lever inside. Does the '75 axle have these holes? Or are the brakes totally different?

[Kman]

Both the '75 Dana 44 and the '83 AMC 20 have cables.The cables on the '75 look really long(which may be good with a 4" lift and the revolver shackles).I think they will work out O.K.

[rick]

My cables run down the driver side from the main cable that runs to the cab. Thus, the DS cable is relatively short and the PS cable is pretty long. The PS cable was originally bolted to the tub at the step in front of the back seat, but after installing the Zig-Zag it was conveniently ripped off. So now it hangs there, doesn't really rub anything, and is plenty long at full droop (especially since I took the Zig-Zag off). I considered finding longer cables, but I don't see much need. As long as they are long enough at full droop, they should be fine.

[Kman]

I am going to route these up the DS too.On the '75 chassis they were zip tied up the center of the frame(no body-so this may not be where they were orinally routed on a '75.
I was wondering if you kept the Zig-Zag with the Scout spring conversion.Any particular reason you chose not to continue running it?I almost bought the Zig-Zag over the revolvers.

[rick]

I had to take the Zig-Zag off when I installed RE springs. The RE springs use a 1.5" spring eye at both ends of the spring, so the spring eye would not fit in the Z-Z. I liked the Zig-Zag, but for mostly touchy feely reasons like eliminating that unsettling "shift" of the shackles when going around a corner on the street. It did not open up very much with my sping under setup. This is because the spring arch is so high that the spring will droop a lot before it is totally unloaded. The Z-Z would be great in a smaller lift (maybe 2.5") or in spring over setup, where shorter spring length is actually a limiting factor to flex.